Currently comprising of just 25 hectares of vineyard, Carcavelos is the smallest DOC in the country, and produces a very rare and unusual fortified wine.

First created by an Irishman, Sir Paul George, as long ago as the 14th Century, Carcavelos wine was originally fortified with high strength grape spirit to preserve it during export to the UK. Bear in mind that the history of fortified wines produced in the Douro can be traced to no earlier than the mid-17th Century.

It is made in a similar way to wood-aged red and white Port but rather than interrupting fermentation halfway through, it is fermented dry and then fortified and sweetened with grape must. It undergoes oxidative ageing in barrel for several years before bottling. The wines were strongly promoted in second half of the 18th Century by the Marquês de Pombal (who owned vineyards there) and it gained fame as a worthy alternative to the finest tawny Ports, although Carcavelos tends to be lighter, less sweet and slightly more refreshingly acidic.

I used to go to school in Carcavelos, so it was of course perfectly normal back in the heady pre-PC days of the early 1980s to take young kids on field trips to visit wineries. I think we probably must have walked there from the classroom.

Fortunately history has preserved a complete record of my first ever vineyard visit, aged around seven years old (click on the image to scroll between pages). Here it is, in its entirety, for your benefit and education: